I like how they sidestepped any of the real complaints. "The name “G.I. Joe” will always be synonymous with bravery and heroism." Uh...yes, but will it be about "Real American Heroes"?

"The G.I. Joe team will not be based in Brussels. Instead, they will be based out of the “Pit” as they were throughout the 1980s comic book series." Riiiiight...but will the "Pit" be based in the United States, or in another country? And will the team be answerable to the Pentagon, or be under the auspices of the laughable U.N. in order to take that unfortunate "American" connection out?

Ah, Hollywood. Why even make G.I. Joe, when it's clear you'd much rather make "Socialist Steve" so as not to offend the tender sensibilities of the International market?

I like how they sidestepped any of the real complaints. "The name “G.I. Joe” will always be synonymous with bravery and heroism." Uh...yes, but will it be about "Real American Heroes"?

"The G.I. Joe team will not be based in Brussels. Instead, they will be based out of the “Pit” as they were throughout the 1980s comic book series." Riiiiight...but will the "Pit" be based in the United States, or in another country? And will the team be answerable to the Pentagon, or be under the auspices of the laughable U.N. in order to take that unfortunate "American" connection out?

Ah, Hollywood. Why even make G.I. Joe, when it's clear you'd much rather make "Socialist Steve" so as not to offend the tender sensibilities of the International market?

Yeah the language in that didn't really clear too much up. It almost reads as if Duke is going to be the one American character.

I heard Glenn Beck talking about it this morning. I couldnt beleive Beck was talking about GIJOE so I spent the whole time sitting in my truck while I should have been working. Carefull with the whole REAL AMERICAN HERO thing guys you might offend someone

I'm very impressed that Hasbro took the time to do that. That was a well written statement, and honestly, some people here are bitchin' about nothing. Why are people looking for specifics when the overall plot hasn't been written yet, let alone the actual story?

I like how they sidestepped any of the real complaints. "The name â€œG.I. Joeâ€? will always be synonymous with bravery and heroism." Uh...yes, but will it be about "Real American Heroes"?

Does "Real American Hero" have to be part of the title at all? I don't remember "Robots in Disguise" being underneath the TF movie logo. As long as the characters are truly based on the '80s ones, as the Hasbro statement tells us, there's no reason to worry about it.

"The G.I. Joe team will not be based in Brussels. Instead, they will be based out of the "The Pit" as they were throughout the 1980s comic book series." Riiiiight...but will the "Pit" be based in the United States, or in another country? And will the team be answerable to the Pentagon, or be under the auspices of the laughable U.N. in order to take that unfortunate "American" connection out?

Why are you reading such nonsense into this statement? "Instead, they will be based out of the "The Pit" as they were throughout the 1980s comic book series." Since they weren't in another country in the 1980s comic series, you have no reason to think they will be now based on that statement. You're making something out of nothing... (FYI: The idea of the team being in Brussels was clearly because NATO is headquartered there, so it wouldn't be under the auspices of the "laughable" UN, which is actually headquartered in NY. Oh yeah, and we haven't had a world war since the UN was founded, either, so they can't be all bad. Oh right, and the US is a permanent security council member there, so let's not pretend there's not an "unfortunate American connection" there. )

Ah, Hollywood. Why even make G.I. Joe, when it's clear you'd much rather make "Socialist Steve" so as not to offend the tender sensibilities of the International market?

"Socialist Steve"? Why are you trying to make something like that out of this? They want MONEY from the international market, so what if they don't want to "offend"? I agree that GI Joe should stay as true to its roots as much as it can but all this Glenn Beck-style "outrage" over it is silly.

I didn't see his show, btw, I really can't stand the guy. I might agree with him much of the time but I just hate the whole right-wing "outrage" thing we see all the time, it's annoying and really dumbs down the issues.

It doesn't mention where the PIT is located.It doesn't say that G.I. JOE won't be an acronym for "Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity".It doesn't state that G.I. JOE is "A Real American Hero".

Carefull with the whole REAL AMERICAN HERO thing guys you might offend someone

If anyone is offended, I'll just give them the national bird.

Does "Real American Hero" have to be part of the title at all? I don't remember "Robots in Disguise" being underneath the TF movie logo.

It doesn't have to be in the title, but they did say the tagline "more than meets the eye" a couple times. So, why shouldn't they say "A Real American Hero" somewhere within the story?

Maybe it will, it'd be kind of lame if they announced the line was going to be mentioned at some point. It might be hard to do it without sounding cheesy, though, but we'll see. I wouldn't want them to "force" the line, if you know what I mean. Anyway, like I said, I don't think it's a big deal - we use "RAH" a lot because we're differentiating newer (and older, in the case of 12" stuff) Joes from the classic '80s design, but to most people it's simply "GI Joe". And like I've said before GI Joe was available to kids in Europe and South American and other places as well, so "A Real American Hero" doesn't necessarily have the same universal appeal that "Robots in Disguise" or "More than Meets the Eye" would have. I don't think anyone should take it as an "insult", at least not if they don't completely change the characters and storyline so that Duke is from France, etc. (Then I'd be a little annoyed, to say the least.)

You're right about the acronym though - that IS cheesy, and unnecessary. If it's an attempt to make the code name "cool", they've failed miserably. Just leave it alone. As far as where the Pit is located, I hope it's in NY like the original. That was pretty cool - having it in the middle of a desert or whatever somewhere is kind of cliched, in that Area 51 sort of way. Staten Island set it apart.

Um, ok. Led by Duke. That's fine, but what about Colonel (at the time) Hawk? Generals Austin and Flagg? Are they being retconned out?

There's no continuity to ret-con here. Think of it as GIJOE starting with this movie. This why the film's script says its BASED on GIJOE created by Hasbro.

Do not get confused by the Marvel comics continuity, that will not apply here for the most part--except in the most general sense.

Confused? Hawk was one of the original G.I.Joes, In both the comic and the toys. Duke was not. Oh, well.

Well, he wasn't an original member in the cartoon (even though he should have been). I still hope he's in it, but I don't mind Duke taking the lead role. I don't really care about Flagg or Austin, although it'd be alright if there were cameos.

No, Transformers didn't say "Robots in Disguise" or anything like that but how pissed would people have been if they were from Mars or something instead of Cybertron??? This makes me feel somewhat better but I'm kinda thinking this is just damage control to a point. I hate to be negative but even though Hollywood has gotten so many things right over the past couple years the ghost's of Elektra/Batman and Robin/Street Fighter still loom pretty large.

Plus, what was Glenn Beck hollering about.....I usually hate that guy what was he saying???

Well, you guys are right. Even though it sounds a little better, it was still a little vague.
Even so, we've got a long way to go until we even see a trailer. I think it's a decent start. Hopefully things will fall into place, and this movie will be awesome.

Um, ok. Led by Duke. That's fine, but what about Colonel (at the time) Hawk? Generals Austin and Flagg? Are they being retconned out?

There's no continuity to ret-con here. Think of it as GIJOE starting with this movie. This why the film's script says its BASED on GIJOE created by Hasbro.

Do not get confused by the Marvel comics continuity, that will not apply here for the most part--except in the most general sense.

To go with this, consider how they did X-Men. Wolverine and Storm weren't original members of the team, but they rank among the most popular characters of the franchise.

Just because a character was on the original team, doesn't make them the most popular or marketable. I can all but guarantee that Duke, Gung Ho, and Roadblock will be among the characters predominantly featured in the film.

I almost see this posting as "Chill out fanboys, we know what the eff we're doing!" After Transformers (and Hasbro's involvement in that film), Hasbro's got some cred in Hollywood, and assuming the guys running the brand have even half the passion as the Transformers guys, I think Joe is in safe hands (from a concept standpoint). Whether or not Sommers and Beattie can deliver a quality film is the real question....

Yes, I second this. Lest we forget amongst our many complaints that Hasbro has been quite transparent with fans as to the status of their various lines, the movies, etc. Let's commend them on some level and leave most of the bashing aside, or we may end up alienating the hand that feeds us (so to speak).

Yes, I second this. Lest we forget amongst our many complaints that Hasbro has been quite transparent with fans as to the status of their various lines, the movies, etc. Let's commend them on some level and leave most of the bashing aside, or we may end up alienating the hand that feeds us (so to speak).

Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing the film or Hasbro in general...I'm just saying that their press release didn't really address what most of the furor amongst fans is based on. Bottom line is: G.I. Joe has always been about American soldiers protecting American interests and promoting American values within it's "fantasy." If they wanted to get away from that, they should make the movie "Action Force" and market it as the overseas line was done.

BTW, I stand by my "laughable U.N." statement. The fact that their hasn't been a World War since WWI has much more to do with the U.S. being the only true superpower in recent history than anything the U.N. has done. If the U.S. pulled out of the U.N. that would basically be the end of any effectiveness that organization has; but I understand that we need to stay there with our veto power if only to keep the anti-semitic nations from passing their many, many resolutions against Israel.

I would prefer Hawk to Duke in the film, but ever since the cartoon made Duke the leader of G.I. Joe in the early seasons, we've kind of been stuck with him in other lines/media. Not that big a deal.

If this team is really going for the international bend that we've been hearing about, I wouldn't be surprised to see characters like Big Ben or Daina from the Oktober Guard. Even Jinx, but retconned to be a Japanese national as opposed to an American of Japanese descent. But it's all speculation at this point.

At least with Stephen Sommers at the helm we're guaranteed a movie at LEAST as good as "The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen."

BTW, I stand by my "laughable U.N." statement. The fact that their hasn't been a World War since WWI has much more to do with the U.S. being the only true superpower in recent history than anything the U.N. has done. If the U.S. pulled out of the U.N. that would basically be the end of any effectiveness that organization has; but I understand that we need to stay there with our veto power if only to keep the anti-semitic nations from passing their many, many resolutions against Israel.

Hardly. In actual fact, there were TWO superpowers for most of the time since WWII, remember? The kind of diplomacy that the UN provides on the world stage helped to prevent the two from coming to a head, and still does. You're oversimplifying everything, and just regurgitating the watered down arguments we all hear on TV all the time.

BTW, I stand by my "laughable U.N." statement. The fact that their hasn't been a World War since WWI

I wouldnt "feed" from that hand...it always has sh@t in it! im sure the only reason they issued a statement was because they must of got alot of emails or calls about some of the rumors and the office girl threatened to quit!